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The city of Cleveland is really taking budget cuts to another level, it seems. Next in line for cost-saving measures are the city’s twelve cemeteries where “rising maintenance costs” have pushed the city to send out letters to relatives of people buried there telling them to “remove crosses and other decorations from graves or have them taken away.” Although the city says its policy has been there for 14 years, now that it’s actually going to be enforced, people might wonder if such a policy is even legal?...

Despite the Supreme Court ruling that gave same-sex couples the right to get married, many county court clerks have refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, citing their anti-gay religious beliefs. In response, same-sex couples and in some instances the American Civil Liberties Union have filed lawsuits trying to force clerks to issue marriage licenses, regardless. Who is right? While most of these cases are pending, let’s take a look at the conflicting Constitutional protections....

More and more states are legalizing it, meaning there are more and more business opportunities out there when it comes to marijuana. But, as opposed to computer science degrees for coders and engineers, MBAs for small business entrepreneurs, and even wine- and beer-making programs, there are precious few educational opportunities for those make a career in the weed field. (Outside of what you glean from the internet and that burnt out neighbor with a few sickly plants in his closet....

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, but efforts to stop domestic violence don’t just end when the calendar flips to November. Part of the cycle of violence is that the abuser makes the victim feel isolated. But the law won’t leave you out in the cold. If you’re ready to get out of an abusive relationship or you know someone who is, there are legal ways to keep the abuser away....

An increasing number of companies, both big and small, are using contractors to fill positions that would traditionally have been held by full-time employees. While this may provide benefits in the form of saved time and money, using contractors can also pose a significant risk if done improperly. FedEx found this out this hard late last month, when a federal appeals court ruled that thousands of delivery drivers the company had claimed were independent contractors were actually employees, meaning the company may be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid overtime....

Goldman Sachs and Warren Buffett are working together in order help small businesses gain access to capital. The partnership also provides small business owners with college scholarships. Goldman Sachs will provide the monetary resources. Warren Buffett is not planning to use any of his own money towards the program. He plans on mentoring small business owners. ABC News reports that the company will contribute $200 million dollars to a project called 10,000 Small Businesses which will help small business owners get a higher education through grants....

A lawsuit filed by two Southern California women accuses Hawaii’s Aloha Bed & Breakfast of engaging in sexual orientation discrimination in 2007. Diane Cervelli and Taeko Bufford called the establishment and requested a room with a single bed. Owner Phyllis Young then asked if they were lesbians, to which they answered yes. Allegedly, Young then declined to rent them a room, citing her religious views and discomfort at having lesbians in her house....

The legal community is still adjusting to the reality that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died last month. His absence leaves the outcome of many cases more difficult to predict than before. Let’s look at how the high court influences your small business and a few cases that illustrate this. When we think of Supreme Court cases, we generally think of civil rights, most likely, and not matters that impact small businesses on a daily basis....

There’s a good chance you’ve heard of the Tough Mudder, one of the most popular adventure races in the country. If you’ve tried it then you’re all too familiar with the paperwork required to participate including the death waiver. That’s right; the waiver includes a release of liability for death, not just injury. Adventure races like the Tough Mudder involve running a course full of obstacles that include lots of mud....

On June 27-28, the Food and Drug Administration will be asking an advisory panel of experts to take a closer look at metal-on-metal hip implants, according to a news release. Though the FDA metal hip implant investigation is nothing new, it signals that the agency may be ready to subject the devices to stricter scrutiny. The investigation originally made the news in August of 2010, when DePuy, a division of Johnson & Johnson, recalled 93,000 XL Acetabular metal-on-metal hips....

Portland Oregon attorney, Kelly Clark, filed suits in Washington, Oregon and California on Monday, charging the Mormon Church and the Boy Scouts of America with liability for the molestation of his clients when they were children. The cases, against both organizations in San Francisco and Seattle and against the Church alone in Portland, all concern allegations of molestation that took place in the 1970’s and ‘80’s. Clark has a long standing practice specializing in representing victims of abuse....

Patterns of abuse at a number of nursing home facilities have been brought to the surface via news stories in recent weeks, drawing attention to the duty that nursing facilities have to prevent residents’ mistreatment and harm, and the legal rights of vulnerable nursing home patients. At LaSalle County Nursing Home in Ottawa, Illinois, a male resident has been linked to the sexual abuse of at least 10 other nursing home patients, and the Illinois Department of Public Health has concluded that the facility didn’t do enough to prevent the abuse, according to an Associated Press story covered by WGIL-Galesburg....

Dude, where’s my car? A family in Tampa woke to a loud noise at around 6 a.m. Sunday. When they walked outside, it seemed that the family car, a 1995 Toyota Camry, was missing. It hadn’t been stolen. They hadn’t forgotten where they parked it after a hard night of partying. The car was actually sitting at the bottom of a sinkhole, 20 feet wide and 20 feet deep. And it’s growing deeper....

Stand your ground insurance. Have some peace of mind when you kill someone in a homicidal act of self defense. NRA members receive all sorts of perks and benefits including the exclusive right to purchase insurance for killing someone. That’s right, for $165, you will insure yourself if you kill someone in a perceived act of self defense. So what exactly do you get for your money? The NRA-endorsed insurance covers up to $100,000 in legal fees related to a self defense claim after killing someone, reports the New Times Broward-Palm Beach....

One hundred and seventy-seven bikers were arrested following a May melee that left nine dead in Waco, Texas. As of today, 143 of them remain behind bars. Matt Clendennen is one of the 34 who’ve managed to get bailed out of the McLennan County Jail, and has filed a lawsuit against the city of Waco, McLennan County, District Attorney Abelino Reyna, and individual officers involved in his arrest, claiming authorities violated his client’s Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights....

For low-income families, access to child care can be crucial. After all, if you can’t trust that your child will be cared for while you’re at work, you’re probably not going to work. But as many parents know, finding affordable child care is a challenge. So there are local, state, and even federal programs in place to help working parents afford day care for their children. While these services can change the lives of low-income families, the subsidies themselves are subject to change....

A 2-year-old California girl was forced to wait five hours in the emergency room to receive treatment. The delay may have cost her both of her feet and one of her hands, which she had to have amputated Malyia Jeffers, 2, was waiting in the ER at Methodist Hospital in Sacramento while fighting a serious Strep A infection. She is now at Stanford University’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. Malyia Jeffers is still on a ventilator and kidney dialysis following the December amputations....

Budding entrepreneurs can start a business from scratch or they can choose to represent an already-established brand. When a business owner ‘buys’ a franchise they are actually purchasing a license to use established trademarks and trade names. What is a franchise license all about? In fact, there are two main types of franchise licenses: license to use product or trade name is where the franchise owner sells the franchisee a license to use the right to the name and trademark....

Anti-union ‘right-to-work’ laws have been controversial since their inception in the 1940s. And although 28 states currently have right-to-work laws on the books, those laws have faced their fair share of legal challenges. Most recently, Wisconsin passed a right-to-work law in 2015, and the statute just survived its latest legal challenge at the state’s 3rd District Court of Appeals. Federal and State Labor Laws Right-to-work laws weaken union bargaining power by prohibiting labor agreements requiring employees to either join a union or pay dues and fees to it in order to get or keep a job....

Connecting the Midwest with the Great Lakes, Indiana is the 16th most populated U.S. state, despite being the smallest contiguous state west of the Appalachian Mountains. Known as the Hoosier State, Indiana’s motto “The Crossroads of America” makes reference to the state’s central location, which makes it a hub for several major interstate highways. But what should those passing through or looking to become a Hoosier themselves be aware of when it comes to Indiana state laws?...